The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus for transferring a natural tobacco leaf onto a leaf receiving member, such as a cutting table for cutting cigar wrappers from the leaf, and it will be described with particular reference thereto; however, it is appreciated that the invention has broader applications and may be used in other tobacco handling equipment.
As is well known in the cigar manufacturing art, wrappers are cut from synthetic material or natural tobacco leaves and then wrapped around a cigar filler to produce the desired outer appearance for a cigar. In recent years, a substantial amount of effort has been devoted to automating the production of cigars. In this effort, it has been suggested to develop an integrated machine which will accept natural tobacco leaves, either whole or cut in half, and automatically process these leaves to cut wrappers therefrom. These machines require rapid processing of the natural tobacco leaves in a positive manner so that uniform end results are obtained at a rapid speed necessary for economic justification of the cost involved in the automatic equipment. The present invention has been developed in a program for the overall development of a machine which will spread a natural tobacco leaf onto a perforated continuous conveyor belt, scan the leaf to locate the position from which a wrapper can be cut and then perform the cutting operation to produce the wrapper. In this type of program, it was necessary to develop an apparatus for transferring the natural tobacco leaf from the continuous, flexible conveyor belt to a generally flat receiving member in the form of a cutting table at a preselected position in the normal path of movement of the continuous belt. Normal leaf handling transfer devices, such as pick-up plates and transfer rolls presented substantial disadvantages. These devices would require an intermediate transfer element for transferring the leaf from the belt to a cutting table. Also, two separate control arrangements would be required for releasing the leaf from the belt and then capturing the leaf on an intermediate transfer unit. The complexity of these arrangements negated the ability to provide positive, rapid transfer of the natural tobacco leaf within a relatively confined space. Also, they would involve frequent adjustment to assure uniform registering or orientation of the tobacco leaf with respect to subsequent processing equipment.